Page 14

THALASSAR

I paced the length of my chambers, blood still sticky between my claws.

Each step burned off a fraction of my rage, but not enough.

Never enough.

My scales threatened to spread with every circuit, the dragon under my skin pushing to break free.

Lucy sat at the edge of the bed while Naia tended her wounds.

Tiny, insignificant scratches that made me want to flatten cities and boil oceans.

“That one stings,” Lucy said as Naia dabbed something green onto her forearm.

“It will heal cleaner this way,” Naia murmured.

“Thank you---“

“You shouldn’t have been in the gardens alone.” The words burst from me, harsher than I meant them.

Lucy’s eyes snapped to mine, unafraid.

“I can handle myself.”

“Clearly.” I gestured at her wounds, then immediately regretted it when her face hardened.

“Your Majesty,” Naia whispered, hands pausing in their work.

“Perhaps I should return later---“

“Finish,” I commanded, softer this time.

I turned away, staring at the wall where ancient battles played out in luminous pearl inlay.

Ancestors fighting invaders, protecting what was theirs.

Just as I had done.

Quiet filled the room until I heard Naia pack up her supplies.

“The wounds are minor, Your Majesty. She’ll recover fully.”

I nodded without turning.

“Leave us.”

Naia bowed and slipped out, the door closing behind her with a soft click.

“.” Lucy’s voice cut through my thoughts.

“Look at me.”

I turned.

She’d risen from the bed, standing defiant and beautiful despite her injuries.

“I’m not fragile,” she said.

“I know.”

“Do you?” She stepped closer.

“Because you’re looking at me like I might break.”

“You nearly did.” The memory of her blood in the water unleashed something primal in me.

“If I’d been minutes later---“

“But you weren’t.” Her eyes searched mine.

“Those creatures... they weren’t like your people. What were they?”

My jaw tightened.

“The Mersai. Deep-dwelling predators who have contested our waters for generations.” My scales darkened with anger.

“The same ones who murdered my mother during peace talks. Seeing them in our gardens, threatening you...”

Understanding dawned in her eyes.

“That’s why you reacted so strongly. It was history repeating itself.”

“Yes,” I admitted, “but not only that.” I crossed to her in three strides, my hands hovering over her bandaged arm.

“She was taken from me in those gardens. My mother. But this was different---this was you, Lucy.” My voice roughened.

“The thought of losing you... it’s unbearable in a way I’ve never experienced before.”

“I’m here now.” She caught my hand, pressed it to her face.

“I’m alive.”

“You’re alive,” I repeated, the words a prayer.

Her skin burned beneath my touch, vital and warm.

I leaned down, pressed my forehead to hers.

Her breath mingled with mine, sweet and clean.

The scent of her---exotic spice and something uniquely Lucy---pulled at me, urged me closer.

“I need---“ I struggled for words.

“I know.” She tugged my head down, her lips meeting mine.

The kiss was desperate at first, fear and relief colliding.

Her hands tangled in my hair, and mine spanned her waist, lifting her higher as I straightened.

Her legs tightened around me without breaking the kiss, clinging as if she’d never let go.

I carried her to the bed, laying her down with more care than I knew I possessed.

My hands shook as I pulled back to look at her, spread across my sheets like a gift I never dreamed of receiving.

“Your heart’s beating so fast,” she whispered, hand pressed to my chest.

“You should see what it does when you do this.” I guided her hand lower, over my abdomen, to the growing hardness beneath my clothing.

Her smile turned wicked.

“Show me.”

I kissed her again, slower this time, savoring the softness of her lips, the small sounds she made when I nipped at her lower lip.

My hand slid down her side, past her hip, to the hem of her dress.

“May I?” I asked against her mouth.

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Anything.”

I drew the dress up slowly, revealing inch after inch of skin.

When she sat up to let me pull it over her head, I stared in wonder.

Moonlight filtered through the water of my pool, casting rippling patterns across her bare skin.

“Your undergarments are strange,” I murmured, tracing the edge of the fabric covering her breasts.

“Bras aren’t exactly standard issue for inter-planetary exploration.” She laughed.

“I salvaged it from my uniform.”

“I like it.” I kissed the valley between her breasts.

“But I’d like it better gone.”

She reached behind herself, and the fabric fell away, revealing her completely.

I groaned, burying my face in her neck, breathing her in.

“Your scent drives me wild,” I confessed, trailing kisses down her throat to her collar bone.

“Ever since I first pulled you from the water.”

“Is that why you saved me?” Her hands worked at my clothing, tugging at fastenings.

“Because I smelled good?”

I laughed against her skin.

“Among other reasons.”

My tunic fell open under her persistent fingers, and she pushed it off my shoulders, her hands exploring the patterns of scales across my chest and arms.

Her touch lit fires beneath my skin, each brush of her fingers burning sweetly.

“You’re beautiful,” she whispered, and something in me cracked open at the wonder in her voice.

I kissed down her body, paying homage to every inch---the curve of her breasts, the softness of her belly, the strength in her thighs.

When I settled between her legs, she propped herself up on her elbows, watching me with heavy-lidded desire.

“What are you---oh!” She fell back as my tongue found her center.

The taste of her was intoxicating---salt and sweetness combined.

I licked deeper, my textured tongue designed by evolution for catching prey now catching her pleasure instead.

She writhed beneath me, her hands fisting in the sheets, in my hair, anywhere she could find purchase.

“That’s---how---“ Her words dissolved into moans as I focused my attention on the sensitive bundle of nerves.

Her thighs trembled around my head, and then she cried out, her back arching off the bed.

I held her through it, drinking in every tremor, every sound.

When she collapsed, boneless and panting, I crawled back up her body, pressing kisses to her flushed skin.

“Your tongue,” she managed when she caught her breath.

“It’s not human.”

“Nothing about me is human, Lucy.”

She reached between us, her hand finding me through my pants.

“Show me all the ways you’re different.”

I groaned, pressing into her touch.

“With pleasure.”

I stood, shedding the last of my clothing.

“I didn’t properly look before,” she whispered, sitting up for a closer view.

Lucy licked her lips, and the sight nearly undid me.

“Can I touch you?” she asked.

I could only nod, throat tight with desire Her fingers were gentle as they explored, tracing the ridges, testing the firmness.

I hissed at the contact, my hips jerking forward involuntarily.

“Does it feel good?” she asked, stroking more confidently now.

“Better than good.” I captured her face in my hands, kissed her deeply.

“But I want to be inside you more than I want to breathe.”

She leaned back on the bed, pulling me with her.

“Then don’t wait.”

I positioned myself between her thighs, the larger of my cocks sliding against her wet folds.

We both moaned at the contact.

With slow, deliberate movements, I pressed forward, entering her inch by careful inch.

“Oh,” she breathed, her body stretching to accommodate me.

“That’s... different.”

I stilled.

“Does it hurt?”

“No.” She wrapped her legs around my waist, drawing me deeper.

“It’s perfect. Don’t stop.”

I braced myself above her, watching her face as I began to move.

The ridges along my length dragged against her inner walls with each thrust, drawing gasps and sighs from her lips.

My second cock lay against her, adding to the friction, and she ground against it, seeking more sensation.

“,” she moaned.

“It’s so good.”

Her pleasure fed mine, each sound she made pushing me higher.

I wanted to possess her completely, to mark her as mine in ways that went beyond the physical.

The thought should have alarmed me---this possessiveness wasn’t like me---but in that moment, with her writhing beneath me, nothing had ever felt more right.

“Turn over,” I whispered in her ear.

“Let me show you another way.”

She complied eagerly, rolling onto her stomach.

I helped her onto her hands and knees, then knelt behind her, my hands spanning her hips.

When I entered her again, the angle changed everything.

She buried her face in the pillows to muffle her cries.

“Let me hear you,” I urged, sliding deeper.

“I want to hear what I do to you.”

She turned her face to the side, her moans filling the room as I set a steady rhythm.

The light from above danced across her back, painting her in the colors of my world.

I leaned down, pressed my chest to her skin, surrounding her completely.

“Lucy,” I murmured against her neck.

“I never knew it could be like this.”

She reached back, her hand finding my face.

“Like what?”

“Like coming home.” The words slipped out before I could stop them, raw and honest.

She pushed back against me, taking me impossibly deeper.

“Yes,” she gasped.

“Exactly like that.”

I gathered her in my arms, drawing us both upright so she sat in my lap, her back against my chest.

One hand splayed across her stomach, holding her steady as I thrust up into her.

The other cupped her breast, thumb brushing over the peaked nipple.

“I want to feel you fall apart again,” I told her, nipping at her earlobe.

“I want to feel you pulse around me.”

“Then don’t stop.” She turned her head for a kiss, awkward and perfect.

“Don’t ever stop.”